Company

Data Quality is at the heart of every campaign

The Software Bureau Story

The Software Bureau was founded in 2000 based on a simple observation that quality data is at the heart of every campaign. Philip Morgan and Paul Callow were working as data processing managers within a prominent UK mailing organisation and were looking for a system to make data processing simpler and more efficient. Concluding that no software was available on the market to achieve this they set about writing one and Cygnus was born.

Fast forward over 15 years and The Software Bureau is recognised by mail producers, data bureaux, printers and corporates as leaders in data processing and postal sortation solutions. Along the way The Software Bureau has expanded the team with hand picked industry experts from the most prestigious mailing and data focused businesses in the UK. The Software Bureau has adapted to the increasing demands of data performance and maintains a razor sharp focus on helping companies maximise the performance of their data and their campaigns.

The Software Bureau by Numbers

22 years

Delivering data excellence

500 Million

Enrichment and suppression records available on demand

1st

Vendor to deliver Mailmark eManifest management solution

1 bn

Name and address records processed through Cygnus each year

Data Processing Software

Data processing sometimes referred to as data cleansing, data hygiene or data quality software describes the technology used to audit and improve the quality and consistency of a name and address data file. Often used by organisations involved in the supply of direct mail and postal solutions, data processing software can involve among other functions the dedupe or removing duplicate records, merging multiple data files, suppressing records or suppression management to exclude particular recipients from being mailed.

Postal Sortation Software

Postal sortation, sometimes referred to as Mailsort or mail sort involves the process of resequencing a list of recipient mailings into geographically relevant areas as stipulated by a postage provider. Mailing services providers who employ sortation software benefit from reduced mailing costs. Until 2012 Royal Mail employed an address coding system called Mailsort, however this has since been withdrawn.